Self-Defense Can’t Save Women From a Sexist Criminal Justice System

The nearly identical cases of Brittany Smith and Rose Parker show how the justice system penalizes abuse victims for surviving

Jude Ellison S. Doyle
GEN
Published in
5 min readFeb 6, 2020

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Brittany Smith. Photo: Facebook

InIn 1986, Rose Parker shot her abuser to save her brother’s life. The man she shot, Art Bago, had been horrifically abusive during their…

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Jude Ellison S. Doyle
GEN
Writer for

Author of “Trainwreck” (Melville House, ‘16) and “Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers” (Melville House, ‘19). Columns published far and wide across the Internet.